1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a hearing aid device of the type having an acoustic pick-up for picking up a noise-free or noise-containing acoustic signal and a control device for controlling hearing aid parameters. The present invention also is directed to a method for the control of a hearing aid device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hearing aids are utilized in a variety of auditory situations and must communicate acoustic stimuli to the patient that are appropriate for the situation. In, for example, street traffic, the wearer wants an omni-directional sound perception for perceiving danger but would like to experience a directed sound perception in a conversation with a conversation partner. Moreover, low-noise telephoning should be possible for the hearing aid user with a hard-wired as well as cordless telephones, as well as with mobile radiotelephones.
Hearing aids are usually able to respond to the different auditory situations because the hearing aid user can switch them into different hearing programs. A typical hearing program is the telephone hearing program wherein the acoustic signals that the microphone of the hearing aid picks up are filtered according to the spectrum of telephone signals in order to suppresses unwanted ambient noises in other spectral ranges. High-quality hearing aid devices usually have a number of microphones that can be interconnected by a specific hearing program in order to achieve a directional effect.
The switching or control of hearing aids usually ensues with switches, keys or controls at the housing of the hearing aid device. In behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid devices, this does not represent a problem because they have a larger structural size. In-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid devices, which are located in the external ear or even exclusively in the auditory canal (CIC devices; complete in the canal), the difficulty of making manual settings to the hearing aid itself arises because their structural size is so small. The ITE hearing aid devices therefore are usually automatically controlled and switched.
As is known, a hearing aid device can be automatically switched into a telephone hearing program or an auditory coil can be activated when a magnetic field that is emitted by the earphone of a telephone device is detected. In this context German PS 31 09 049 discloses that the application of a magnetic field is also required for the actuation of the switching event by using elements that change their electrical properties, for instance the conductivity, in the sense of a switch under the influence of a magnetic field. For instance, a displaceable magnet can be utilized as switch element. The actual contact elements are included in the category of non-contacting switches and, for example, can be fashioned as reed contacts or as magnetic field semiconductors that are also Hall generators. For the switch event, it is thus necessary that the hearing aid device respond to a static magnetic field so that it amplifies the inductively received signals according to the telephone hearing program.
Difficulties regularly occur in the automatic switching into a telephone hearing program when, for example in lecture halls, the signal is inductively transmitted by loops in the floor but a magnetic signal is not present. The same problem occurs with mobile and cordless telephones that have piezoelectric earphones. Moreover, the piezoelectric earphones do not transmit any usable inductive signals, so that inductive pick-ups are unsuited for this purpose in the hearing aid device.
An object of the present invention is thus comprised in improving the automatic switching and control of hearing aid devices in view of the respective auditory situation.
This object is in accordance with the invention in a hearing aid device having an acoustic pick-up for picking up a noise-free or noise-infested acoustic signal and a control device for controlling hearing aid parameters, as well as an analysis device for analyzing the acoustic signal in view of noise signals and for supplying an analysis result to the control device, so that the hearing aid device, particularly individual transmission parameters or entire hearing programs, can be controlled on the basis of the analysis result.
This object also is achieved by a method for controlling a hearing aid device by picking up a noise-free or noisy acoustic signal, analyzing the acoustic signal in view of noise signals and controlling the hearing aid, particularly individual parameters or entire hearing programs, on the basis of the analyzed noise signals.
By evaluating the noise content of the informational signal, namely the acoustic signal that carries the acoustic information, to identify pre-defined disturbances, the evaluation of a signal, for example a magnetic equisignal, to be detected by an additional pick-up device, can be foregone. Moreover, auditory situations can be distinguished with greater differentiation due to the evaluation of the noise signals due to the input of unwanted noises into the microphone of the hearing aid device or the input of electrical or magnetic disturbances into the electronics of the hearing aid device. It is thus possible to recognize telephoning with a mobile telephone on the basis of typical rhythms in the transmission of data packets.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cnoise contentxe2x80x9d means whatever noise is (or is not) present in the incoming audio signal, and thus in the electrical signal that is obtained therefrom. A noise-free audio signal will have a noise content of zero, however, analyzing the incoming signal to determine that it has a noise content of zero is still a relevant part of the analysis for controlling the hearing aid.